Microbiology, including virology

Abstract

It is customary for textbooks on the history of science or of medicine to trace the origins of microbiology to the last quarter of the nineteenth century in France and Germany. Apart from mentioning Leeuwenhoek's observations in the 1670s, they virtually ignore the considerable amount of work which extends back to the sixteenth century. Much of this was, in fact, British, with Scots at home or abroad figuring prominently in the story (Selwyn 1974, 1976).